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For the State Security Forces , the end of January was the key date to start activating in the face of the effects of the coronavirus. It was at a press conference in La Moncloa when the deputy director of the National Police assured that since that date he was acting to protect his agents from Covid-19. He noted that since January 24, the use of face masks and keeping distances at the borders with those arriving from China was recommended.

But on May 1, it was the new director of the Civil Guard, María Gámez , who supported the same date: the end of January. During his intervention in the Extraordinary Plan of the Council of the Civil Guard, Gámez assured that "with the fundamental premise of preserving the health of the civil guards, which has been and is an absolute concern, the first information was given since the end of January and recommendations on the virus and how to protect yourself from it. "

"Measures of family conciliation and promotion of telework were also issued in places where it was possible," said the director of the Armed Institute.

María Gámez revealed that when the Government did not officially consider the serious health risk of the coronavirus, the Civil Guard and the Police were already giving internal instructions for self-protection to their agents.

The deputy director of the Police, José Ángel González , assured in the aforementioned appearance at the Palacio de La Moncloa that on January 24 the commission of Occupational Risks of the Police already released a series of recommendations on security to attend air borders, such as Madrid-Barajas airport.

That day, González said that they had been searching for material to deal with the situation for three months. To which the Secretary of State for Communication, Miguel Ángel Oliver , tried to clarify if he was referring to three weeks. The police command insisted that the Police had already been ordering their border agents for self-protection for two months. At the time, it was the end of January.

1,011 infected civil guards

The Government has always tried to circumscribe the coronavirus alert to the date after March 8 , when, according to its accountant, the incidence of Covid-19 broke out and measures were taken from the Executive.

The director of the Civil Guard, during the event held on May 1, also insisted that since the end of January "there have been a multitude of guidelines, rules and actions that have been dictated and carried out, whose objective has been the protection and care of the civil guards. "

Gámez added, according to the official note provided by the Ministry of the Interior, that "the distribution of the protection material, which was available at all times until the shortage was widespread for everyone, was designed with the aim of reaching to all patrols, and also maintain a strategic reserve that will ensure continued supply. "

María Gámez stressed that the Civil Guard began weeks ago "to carry out thousands of tests autonomously, which is allowing us to detect from among the civil guards who remained isolated those who have the virus and also to be able to recover for service those who are not infected. "

In total, almost 12,400 tests have been carried out as of May 1, according to Gámez. There are 1,011 infected agents and 806 isolated by prevention. "They have never doubted, and at the slightest suspicion of disease, they have been told to stay home, and only under medical criteria have they returned to activity."

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  • Civil Guard
  • National Police
  • Coronavirus
  • Covid 19

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